The effectiveness of self-compassion on psychological well-being and resilience in mothers of children with autism

Mothers of children with autism have lower levels of psychological well-being than other mothers. The purpose of this study was to determine effectiveness of self-compassion education on psychological well-being and resilience in mothers of children with autism.

This research employed a semi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test and control group. Totally, 64 mothers of children with autism were selected by available sampling method, and randomly divided into experimental (n=32) and control (n=32) groups. The experimental group underwent 10 sessions of 90 minutes of self-care education, but the control group remained on the waiting list. To collect data Early Screening of Autistic Traits Questionnaire (ESAT), Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-being (SPWB), and Connor‐Davidson resilience scale (CD‐RISC). Data analysis was performed using multivariable analyze of covariance.

The results showed that the self-compassion education used in this study could improve all six areas of SPWB including environmental mastery (p<0.001; F=117.914), self-acceptance (p<0.001; F=34.940), positive relations with others (p<0.001; F=42.355), purpose in life (p<0.001; F=61.213), personal growth (p<0.001; F=9.111) and autonomy (p<0.001; F=8.254), as well as all five factors of CD‐RISC including personal competence (p<0.001; F=24.883), tolerance of negative affect (p<0.001; F=47.487), positive acceptance of change (p<0.001; F=22.419), control (p<0.001; F=16.979) and spiritual influences (p<0.001; F=104.49) of mothers.

Based on the results of this study, the self-compassion education is an effective intervention in improving psychological well-being and resilience of mothers of children with autism.